[Chapter Size: 2900 Words.]
Third Person POV
North, 93 AC.
7 moons later.
"Will Rowena have any complications?" Garren asked, a little worried.
Ghost walked down the wooden corridor as he approached the group of humans ahead of him, listening to them talking, but unable to understand their words.
There were two men and a three-day-old child standing in front of a closed room, with various sounds coming from inside it, mainly the groans of a woman.
As he watched the two adults talking, the white wolf reached them. Jon turned to him and stretched out his hand to touch his head, which was already bigger than the boy. Unlike Roman, who looked aside when he saw the white fur and jumped back.
"Wow, how did this wolf get here? I didn't even hear him," he said with some displeasure, unable to answer Garren's question with the arrival of the white and silent wolf.
"Don't be foolish, uncle. You know Ghost is very silent. If you don't see him, he approaches without you noticing," the boy said to Uncle Roman, laughing in an amused way at his uncle's scare.
"Tsc, ill-mannered brat. Don't call your uncle foolish," Roman grumbled, while Garren let out a humorless laugh. He still seemed nervous about his wife and the new child inside that room.
There was another scream from Rowena as she strained.
"She will be fine, won't she?" he murmured carefully, while Roman gave a few pats on his shoulders.
"Don't worry, brother. Remember when Jon was born in that storm, under that sacred tree? Your wife came out much better than mine. So I don't think there will be any big problem like you believe. She will certainly have the same birth she had with your first son..." Roman said.
Garren seemed to listen to his brother and nodded, agreeing with him. Jon was there, clinging to the wolf, who stayed by his side while rubbing his head against him, closing his eyes at his owner's touch. He looked at the door with his mother's screams, he was worried, but deep down, he knew she would be fine, he could feel his mother's life force for some reason.
"You know, I was starting to get worried about the size of this wolf..." Roman turned his attention back to the wolf and his nephew, not failing to comment on the fact. The wolf was gigantic compared to what he should be at 7 moons, he was already bigger than Jon.
Roman had to agree that when they brought him that day — the white pup home — it was a real commotion. He had asked Rowena to convince Jon that it was not a good idea to raise a wolf like a dog.
Rowena agreed at first, also knowing that they could not keep a wolf as a domestic animal.
Rowena talked to Jon, but in the end came back shaking her head, saying that her son would not allow the wolf to leave, she had offered a dog for him to raise, but Jon insisted on keeping the wolf.
He said he would take care of him and that he would not hurt anyone; on the contrary, he would protect the family.
Rowena said she found it adorable to see her son so determined, he had always gotten along well with animals, but she also wondered where all that confidence of Jon with a wolf came from. The boy only said that he knew the wolf was trustworthy and that he had no doubts about it. He felt it with all his heart.
Even so, Garren did not trust having a wolf. Who raised wolves? There was no one in the North or in the other kingdoms who did that. There were only the legends of the direwolves that were with the Starks, but that had lost their connection with that family hundreds of years ago, even before the Conquest. It was all nothing more than a distant legend.
No one else could raise a wolf, because they are animals that, no matter how much you feed them, their wild instincts will always prevail. That was what Garren believed.
Even so, he let Jon take care of the wolf in the first months while he grew. And, indeed, the wolf became his companion.
Rowena too, despite always being worried about the wolf, about the possibility of him attacking Jon, played with her son along with the animal, who was quite docile — at least while he was still a pup.
As the moons passed, he began to grow quickly. But Garren did not need to worry about the amount of food the wolf ate, and he fed him well, because lately, the hunting had been quite plentiful in that region, as if all the animals of the Wolfswood were heading in the direction where they lived.
The change in the hunting was enormous. Sarra, who had lived there long enough married to Garren's brother, said that it had something to do with Jon. She had always been quite superstitious regarding the boy's birth.
She kept telling Roman that the hunting where they lived was never really productive, since they depended mainly on the land to cultivate, but it had become extreme since Jon was born, as if the forest never wanted to let them go hungry. Because of this, meat had never been a problem, and the wolf had been fed by that luxury since Jon had found him in the forest until this moment, where the animal was already bigger than him — bigger than an adult dog as well.
Obviously, when the wolf began to grow too much, Garren wanted to put him under an enclosure so that he could not remain loose, preventing him from attacking Jon or Rowena — which was his worst fear. The wolf could let his primitive instincts take over and attack even the hand that feeds him. Because of that, he was placed in an enclosure.
Jon protested a lot about it, but he had no choice but to obey his father, who, when necessary, was quite firm. And that happened even with his son in tears, because he did not want to be separated from Ghost, being extremely stubborn.
Ghost slept outside the house, until Garren took Jon and placed him beneath his bedroom window. He gave his son a big scolding that night, but Rowena talked to him about it. In the end, Ghost returned to sleeping in Jon's room, beside his bed.
Two moons had passed since then, and the animal had never really shown himself to be dangerous. He even seemed like a dog. Since Roman learned that his nephew was raising a wolf found in the forest and sleeping in the same room as the child, he called his brother crazy.
'It is dangerous to have a wolf, no matter how sweet he seems.' He used to say at the time. Even so, Garren ended up trusting his son, while Jon remained firm, together with the wolf without showing any sign of danger in having the wolf.
Returning to the present moment there, Garren heard his brother about the wolf's size and nodded his head. "I know. He is seven months old and will be bigger than any wolf or dog we have ever seen," said Garren, with some concern.
Jon was there playing with the wolf, rubbing his small little hands into the animal's fur. He was restless and even seemed to feel a little uncomfortable, but he did not care if he was, as long as he seemed to prioritize the boy's happiness. And Jon was happy playing with him.
"Do you think he could be one of those direwolves?" Roman said, with concern. "Think about it. He is too docile to be a wolf. In the past there were legends that..."
"The Starks," said Garren, pressing his lips together.
"Yes. There is their blood in the boy, Garren. And if this wolf keeps growing? And the way he is attached to the boy, more than to anyone else... it is possible," Roman let the words hang in the air.
Garren had told a secret about his wife. She was descended from a bastard Snow line of the Stark, a lineage that was born among the common folk and lived outside the eyes of the nobility. Think about it, it is not so uncommon for nobles to have bastards out there, the North was full of them... Jon's great-grandmother was a Snow with Stark blood, being Rowena's grandmother.
If that were true, and if the wolf were discovered linked to his son, that could bring trouble as well...
The door of the room beside them finally opened, and a small two-year-old girl ran out, while a groan came from inside the chamber, becoming louder because of the open door, and they could see three women working on Rowena's labor, who was on a bed of hay.
Obviously, Rowena was giving birth to her second child. Sarra and Roman had been there in the last few days, waiting for the coming of the birth, which they had already marked expecting to happen that week.
When her water broke, Sarra took care of Rowena and the two children in the house. Roman and Garren went to the town to fetch the women who could help with the birth and returned home to assist Rowena, who had already been in labor for more than three hours, trying to push the child while groaning in pain.
The girl who ran went straight to her father. Roman picked her up when the door closed again by one of the women.
"I don't want to stay in there anymore. It's scary," the girl said stammering, not liking to witness a woman giving birth.
"You were the one who insisted that you wanted to see. Now you know you don't like it. Don't even think about staying there anymore," Roman said to his daughter, Mara, who nodded with small tears in her eyes. She just had not liked seeing Aunt Rowena scream like that. She seemed to be suffering a lot.
Her gaze went to Jon, who was playing with the wolf. "Ghost," she said, pointing and improving her mood. "He came back," she added.
Mara was a cheerful child, especially with Jon's wolf, but she did not have the ability to speak as well as Jon did at his age. Her words were a little stuck, but she could express herself well. Jon himself helped her while they played together.
"Yes, he just came back after running a little in the forest," Roman said, already seeing that his daughter wanted to get down from his arms.
He set her down, and Mara ran to Jon's side, grabbing Ghost, who grew more and more tense being attacked by the children, but did not act in a hostile way toward either of them. He just remained silent, lying down on the ground while Jon and Mara began to laugh with childish giggles.
"Can you believe your father was saying that Ghost is going to be bigger than a normal wolf?" Jon said, making Roman and Garren look at each other when they realized that the boy had been listening to their whole conversation the entire time.
"Really?" Mara became excited about it, asking out loud.
"It seems so. He is going to be a super wolf. I am going to ride him like daddy rides Bernd," Jon announced, talking about the horse that had been named and that Garren rode to do things... That made Mara look at him wide-eyed before turning to her father.
"Dad, can we get a wolf for me too?" she asked excitedly.
It was not the first time she had made that request. Roman just shook his head.
"Hardly, daughter. Ghost is the only wolf who does not seem to want to devour his owner. Other wolves would already have done that. That is why they are dangerous," he said, while she grew discouraged.
"But Ghost is not as cool as Rex and Totó."
"A wolf is not like the dogs we have at home, Mara. I want you to understand that. Ghost is a wolf different from the others. Maybe he will not even be that big. We are only assuming that because he is growing too fast," Roman said.
Jon looked at his uncle, curious. His father soon stopped paying attention to the wolf and began to worry about what was happening in the room. He had been nervous since the beginning.
The hours passed, and the children ended up getting tired. Roman put both of them in the bedroom, with Ghost following Jon to sleep beside his bed, as he had always done in his short life.
It was only in the morning that Jon opened his eyes again. His ears quickly caught the sound of a baby crying. He knew what that meant.
He rolled out of bed, getting away from Mara quickly from the hay bed, almost falling to the ground as he ran outside, leaving his cousin still asleep. Ghost followed him as well. As soon as he saw him get out of bed, he lifted his head and quickly ran after Jon.
He ran through the house, lit by a few candles, but with the first rays already appearing through the cracks of the house, until he found the brightest place, where he found the door open. There was his mother, holding a crying baby in her arms, while his father was beside her.
Jon approached quickly, startling the women a little — especially when the wolf passed right behind him, silently.
"He was born? The little brother was born? Let me see him!" Jon said, excited, while looking expectantly at his mother, reaching her side and observing the small bundle in her arms.
His mother was on the hay bed, covered with sheets. Rowena stretched her arm to touch her older son's head and show the small bundle with the baby still crying. He had black hair as well, but not as dark as his father's. He had taken after his mother in that. The eyes, however, were Garren's.
There was no Weirwood glowing, there were no bright eyes like Jon's, nor did the boy seem as beautiful, he had a slightly squashed face, making him a little ugly. But that should be temporary.
Jon studied him with his bright eyes, opening a silent smile to see his blood, there.
His father squeezed Jon's shoulder, in a silent gesture of pride. "You now have a brother, Jon," he finally broke the silence.
Jon still looked curiously at the baby with his eyes. Instinctively, he stretched out his little hand, touching his little brother's lips and cheeks.
He smiled while the baby would not stop crying. "What is his name?" he asked, quickly turning to his mother and father.
"His name... well, that was something your father and I had difficulty deciding. But how about Sam?" she said. It was not Samuel, just Sam, a common name among the folk.
"Sam is a great name," Garren agreed.
Jon watched the baby still crying for a while longer until it irritated him as well, as he covered his ears.
"He won't stop crying. I feel that he is hungry!" He wanted to stay longer with his little brother, but he was bothered by the crying.
"Are you sure, Jon?" Rowena realized that it could be true. "Then I trust you," she said in the end, bringing the baby to her breast.
"I will come back after he stops crying!" Jon announced and Garren saw his son leave the place with the wolf right behind him. The women and his aunt who helped with the birth laughed at Jon's response.
The day had already arrived, and certainly Jon knew that only his parents were tired from having stayed awake all night. He found his uncle sleeping in a wooden chair. And Mara approaching from the room where she was, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"What happened? Is all that screaming over already?" she asked, blinking a few times when she saw Jon standing there while watching her father sleep.
"Yes, she gave birth. I already have my brother!"
"And my cousin!" Mara announced.
Jon shrugged. She was not lying, anyway.
"Well, it is already morning. Your father is sleeping, shall we play a prank on him?!" Jon asked enthusiastically.
"No! Let my father sleep!" said little Mara.
Jon nodded in the end and thought a little with his small hand on his chin. "Then... how about we go play outside? I am sure the adults will spend a long time watching my new brother and then they will sleep. We can even play in the forest!" he said in a mischievous tone.
Playing in the forest was forbidden for them, but Jon felt safe with Ghost.
And this time, Mara immediately became excited. That seemed like a good way to escape.
And that was exactly what they did. They ran outside while the adults were still finishing taking care of the newborn. The children ran out of the house with Ghost following them.